Seasons of Love
by flylikeadcriss
Summary: Scenes from Kurt and Blaine's life together in response to Rent lyrics. Doesn't follow the plot of Rent, and you don't have to know Rent to understand the story. T for language and sexual references.


**Okay, so I challenged myself to write a scene from Kurt and Blaine's life for every song on the Rent soundtrack, in order of the songs and chronologically. I had to use the movie soundtrack, because there's really not all that much to write to in Voicemails and Tune Ups.**

**This story will probably be just as entertaining and will still make sense if you haven't seen Rent. **

**It did come out angstier than I would have liked... but Rent is a pretty angsty movie.**

**The scenes are chronological, but they're not at all evenly paced and some of them are way longer than others.**

**Warnings: Some cursing, in both English and Spanish, and some sexual references**

**I don't own Glee, Rent, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, or anything else you might recognize. **

* * *

><p><em>It's Time Now - To Sing Out<em>

_Though The Story Never Ends_

_Let's Celebrate_

_Remember A Year In The Life Of Friends_

_Remember the Love_

_Remember the Love_

_Remember the Love_

_Measure In Love_

...

Throughout the entire ceremony, Kurt wouldn't let himself cry. He fought the tears as he watched his friends make their way across the stage. First came Rachel, who was beaming at the audience. Then Mike, who had eyes for only Tina, and was looking at her in the audience the entire time. Then Sam. Quinn. Finn. He held it in when his own name was called, and he walked across the stage to receive his diploma. He didn't look at the audience, because he knew that it would make him burst into tears right there on stage.

He struggled to concentrate on the rest of the ceremony. Mercedes. Santana. Brittany. Puck.

He didn't even listen to the Valedictorian speech, made by the girl who sat with him in English class all year, because neither of them had had any good friends in that class and she wasn't scared to catch the gay.

_Maybe it's because she's smart, _Kurt thought wryly.

Finally, upon Principal Figgins' congratulations to the William McKinley High School graduating class of 2012, and the rest of the seniors jumping up to throw their caps in the air and hug each other, he let the tears fall.

Finn was hugging him, Kurt registered somewhere in his mind. But he couldn't concentrate on that because all he could see was Blaine, sitting in the audience, where Kurt had finally allowed himself to look.

Blaine was sitting with Burt and Carol, smiling proudly at Kurt. Their eyes locked, and Kurt smiled a watery smile back.

"I love you," Blaine mouthed.

Kurt nodded and mouthed, "I love you too," back at him.

Then it was time to march out of the auditorium. Kurt finally looked at Finn, who had been seated right next to him, and smiled.

"Congratulations, Finn," he said, before shoving him to make him catch up with the line of students filing out the door.

Once he had finally exited the auditorium, Kurt looked around desperately. He could see his friends heading in his direction, but he couldn't see—

Suddenly, Blaine launching himself into Kurt's arms broke his train of thought. Kurt laughed and steadied himself before hugging his boyfriend back.

"I'm so proud of you," Blaine whispered to Kurt.

Kurt looked around himself, where the rest of the club had gathered and were congratulating and hugging each other.

Santana and Brittany were kissing, because they were finally free of that stupid school and all the people in it. Kurt watched them wistfully for a moment, before realizing that watching a lesbian couple make out was a pretty gross experience for the average gay man, himself included. So he looked back to Blaine.

Blaine, who had noticed Santana and Brittany too, pulled Kurt in and kissed him.

"Blaine," Kurt said, pulling away. "You actually have to come back here next year, you know."

"I don't care," Blaine said. "I love you."

"I love you too," Kurt replied, smiling.

They looked around and separated, joining their friends in a giant pileup of a group hug, centered around Finn, probably because he was the largest and least likely to be crushed by the rest of the club's embrace.

Blaine jumped forward and wrapped his arms around Rachel, pulling Kurt in with him.

* * *

><p><em>What binds the fabric together<em>

_When the raging, shifting winds of change_

_Keep ripping away?_

...

"I don't want to go," Kurt admitted. He was curled up into Blaine's side on his bed. There was music playing softly in the background but they had otherwise been lying in silence for the past twenty minutes.

"What?" Blaine asked sleepily. It was late—later than he was supposed to be allowed to be at Kurt's house. For the past few weeks, though, Burt had taken pity on them and their imminent separation, allowing Blaine to sleep in Kurt's room as long as they knew that he would check on them often, so they "shouldn't try to get away with anything funny."

Both Kurt and Blaine knew that this was an empty threat, because as soon as Burt fell asleep at ten every night, there was no getting him out of bed before eight the next morning.

Still, they had spent the last few hours just holding each other under the covers, occasionally talking softly.

"I don't want to go to New York," Kurt clarified.

"Yes, you do," Blaine argued. He knew how Kurt was feeling, but he wasn't going to let it get in Kurt's way.

"I don't. You'll be here, and it's so far away. I've only been there a few times, and I have no idea how to get around or avoid getting mugged because let's face it, I'm extremely muggable, and I don't want to leave you alone here," Kurt protested.

"I'll be here," Blaine confirmed. "But you'll have Rachel, and you'll meet a ton of other people too. I'll have Tina and Artie and Rory. Don't go out too late at night, and if somebody tries to stop you to ask you for a light, don't stop. Go places with Rachel; she's got a rape whistle. I know it's scary, but it'll be _fine_, Kurt."

Kurt smiled slightly, then sobered again.

"I spent all of my time here waiting for things to change, and now they finally are," he said. "But I don't want _this _to change. I don't want _us _to change, Blaine."

Blaine pulled him closer and kissed the top of his head.

"Things will change, though," he replied. "But they'll change for the better. Because we'll get through this year, and then I'll come to New York too. Isn't that what you want?"

"Yes," Kurt said. "But not if all the time apart makes us break up."

"It won't. We're never saying goodbye to each other, remember? I'll call you all the time. I'll trick my dad into taking me on his business trips there. We'll make it work, because I love you way too much to ever let you go."

Kurt finally lifted his head from Blaine's chest to look him in the eye.

"I love you too," he said. "You're right. We're never saying goodbye."

* * *

><p><em>We're hungry and frozen<em>

_Some life that we've chosen_

...

Blaine woke up to Kurt crawling into bed next to him.

"Kurt?" he asked sleepily. "What's going on?"

"It's fucking freezing out there," Kurt hissed.

"Turn up the heat," Blaine suggested, yawning. He still wasn't fully awake. "Not that I mind you coming back to bed."

Kurt sighed.

"Blaine, we can't afford to turn the heat up any more."

Blaine blinked, now fully awake and concerned.

"What? But that play was going to get us—"

Kurt cut him off.

"I didn't get the role. So if we want to pay the rent this month, we can't spend any extra money on heating. Oh, or food. Not until I actually get another acting job."

Blaine grimaced, and answered, "You will. We'll just cuddle a lot. And you can call Rachel and tell her we had another fight, and she'll bring you Chinese food to comfort you and I'll just sulk in the bedroom until she's gone."

Kurt hated to admit it, but they did do this. Rachel had been relatively successful at getting roles in various musicals around the city. It wasn't Broadway, but she was making more money than them, and could always afford to get Kurt takeout when he and Blaine "fought."

He and Blaine promised each other that they'd pay her back someday.

"Okay," Kurt relented. "We watched Moulin Rouge! and you unthinkingly said that Ewan McGregor is the hottest guy on the planet, okay?"

"Why is it always my fault?" Blaine whined.

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Because if it's my fault, she won't comfort me, she'll lecture me. Besides, I'm the one who overreacted."

Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he said. "And I can get Jack to get me another time slot at the bar he works at."

Blaine often played his music for tips at various locales, usually bars. He had made friends with some of the bartenders, which really did help on their quest for a warm apartment.

"Blaine?" Kurt said quietly. Blaine looked at him in concern. "Why the hell do we live here?"

Blaine chuckled.

"Because this is where we belong," he said firmly.

"Sure doesn't seem like it," Kurt mumbled. Blaine could barely hear him through all of the layers of blankets they had wrapped around themselves.

"It will when you've made it big and you're a star and I actually get a steady job," Blaine argued. At the moment, Blaine was spending his days working as a freelance piano teacher who spent his spare time searching for a position at an actual music school.

"Yeah," Kurt said more confidently. "It will."

* * *

><p><em>Our Dream Can Become A Reality<em>

_You'll See_

...

"Blaine!" Kurt shouted as soon as he walked through the front door.

"What? What's wrong?" Blaine asked from his seat on the couch, looking alarmed.

"Nothing's _wrong_, Blaine, I—You'll never believe it!" Kurt said, sitting next to Blaine on the couch but still bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Oh my God, did you get the part? Are you going to be an Ozian? Oh, God, I can't wait to tell everyone that my boyfriend is on Broadway—"

"No, I'm not going to be an Ozian," Kurt said, effectively shutting Blaine up.

"Oh, Kurt. Damn it, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"I'm going to be Boq," Kurt finished, ignoring Blaine's stammering.

Blaine stared at him.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Seriously," Kurt replied. "I went to the audition for the ensemble, but then they asked me to read some of his lines, and then they told me to go wait outside the room and then they came out and told me that I had gotten the part and oh my God I'm freaking out!"

"Me too!" Blaine exclaimed. He jumped forward and hugged Kurt tightly. "I'm so excited and I'm _so _proud of you."

Kurt pulled away.

"You haven't even heard the other part," he said.

"What?" Blaine asked, his eyes wide.

"I'm Fiyero's understudy," Kurt said.

Blaine squealed and hugged Kurt again.

"I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it. I love you _so _much," he whispered into Kurt's ear.

Then he pulled away.

"We have to call everyone. We have to call Rachel, and your parents, and get everyone tickets," he said.

Then he noticed that Kurt was crying.

"Kurt, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong," Kurt reassured him, smiling through his tears. "It's just all _happening_. Everything we've dreamed about is happening."

Blaine considered this. He had found a position as a full-time professional piano teacher at a musical academy, and was teaching whole classes now as well as private ones. Kurt was going to be on stage in front of a huge audience, right where he belonged.

"It is," Blaine confirmed. "It's happening. It's just going to get better from here. You'll see."

* * *

><p><em>From the pretty boy front man<em>

_Who wasted opportunity_

...

This wasn't supposed to happen.

He was supposed to be excited for Kurt. He was supposed to be totally supportive and happy for his boyfriend, who had just gotten a major role as a main character in a Broadway revival show.

He was supposed to remember the fact that Kurt had dreamed of playing Angel on Broadway for years. That this was one of the best things that had ever happened to Kurt.

He was_ not_ supposed to get jealous of the actor playing Collins and end up causing a huge fight that ended with Kurt storming out of the apartment, crying the entire way.

Because really, who _did _that? Kurt was an actor. It was his _job _to be Collins' boyfriend onstage. Blaine knew that he had no feelings for him, and that he was being completely unreasonable. He knew that it was pathetic that he was way more bothered by Kurt kissing another guy than Kurt playing a straight man and kissing a girl.

Somehow, all of this knowledge had completely been erased from his brain for the past few hours, and had only returned upon their door slamming shut behind Kurt.

_I can't believe this. I can't believe that after all this time, I ruined this. _

He had been curled up on the couch, crying, for two hours after Kurt had left. He'd waited for Kurt to come back. But he didn't.

"You're an idiot," he said out loud to the empty room, a fresh onslaught of tears approaching.

_You never deserved him. You were always the lucky one. How many people would kill to have the opportunity to be with him? And you just threw it all away for no reason._

Blaine closed his eyes.

_ Where could he be? Is he okay? What if he's hurt? He's out on the street at 2 in the morning by himself, how could you let him do that? Maybe he's at Rachel's._

He took a moment to consider calling Rachel. If Kurt were there, he would probably be even more furious with Blaine for bugging him. If he wasn't, Rachel would. Or her fiancé, who was living with her.

Rachel had actually met Alex because of Kurt. Alex had been the primary Fiyero in Kurt's Broadway debut. He had introduced them at the cast party that Rachel had forced him to take her to.

Within a month, they were completely, disgustingly in love.

Alex had proposed in a way that was so _Rachel _that there was no doubt in Blaine's mind that they were perfect for each other: He had somehow rented out a theater, covered the stage in fake snow and red roses, and sung All I Ask of You to her before kneeling (In the fake snow, to Kurt's horror—Alex had been wearing a rented designer suit that Kurt had picked out especially for the occasion) and asking her to marry him.

She has said yes, of course. Blaine had been all for volunteering to dress up as the Phantom and interrupt at that point with the reprise of the song, but Kurt had just rolled his eyes and told Blaine that if he were ever to propose to anyone, he had to get as much help from Rachel as possible.

Then he had blushed, looked away, and changed the subject to how Blaine's class had gone that day.

The thought of Kurt sent a shard of ice through his heart. He'd probably never even need Rachel to keep him from doing inappropriate things during his eventual proposal to Kurt. Not after this.

His eyes shot open at the sound of their door unlocking. He sat up just as Kurt entered. They locked eyes.

"I didn't think you'd still be awake," Kurt whispered, looking totally unprepared for this new development.

Blaine shook his head.

"Like I'd ever be able to sleep with you… you know, gone," he replied hesitantly. He didn't want to make Kurt leave again.

But Kurt crossed the room and sat down next to Blaine on the couch.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, not looking at Blaine.

"What?" Blaine asked in surprise.

"I'm sorry," Kurt repeated, a little louder.

"Why are you sorry?" Blaine asked, disbelieving. "You didn't do anything. _I'm _so sorry, Kurt, that was so stupid and ridiculous and all of the stuff I said was completely unreasonable but I'm _so glad _you came back. I was being an idiot."

"You were," Kurt agreed. "You were being really stupid. But I shouldn't have just started yelling at you; I should've talked to you about it, I was just so stressed out already and I took it all out on you."

"You have a right to be stressed. You had a right to yell at me. I never thought you were actually… you know. I don't even know what I was thinking. But I didn't think that you would ever do anything like that," Blaine said.

"I wouldn't," Kurt said. "I would _never _do anything like that. He would never do anything like that either. He's _straight_, Blaine."

"I know," Blaine said, hanging his head.

"I'm sorry I ran out," Kurt sighed. "And if I worried you."

"God, Kurt, I was terrified. I thought I'd lost you forever. I thought I'd ruined everything," Blaine confessed.

"Blaine, it would take a lot to ruin this, okay? Like, a _lot_. I'm not letting you go that easily," Kurt reassured him. "I love you way too much to give it up because of a fight."

Blaine smiled in relief and pulled Kurt forward to hug him tightly, pressing his nose into Kurt's hair and smelling Kurt's shampoo and feeling how soft his skin was and trying as hard as he could to memorize and absorb every detail that was _Kurt_.

"I love you too," he mumbled.

* * *

><p><em>We could light the candle<em>

_Oh won't you light the candle?_

...

Blaine entered into their new apartment, blinking at the sudden darkness that awaited him inside.

Rachel and her new husband, upon the discovery that Rachel was pregnant, had bought a house outside of the city, but still close enough that Kurt got to see her all the time. Kurt and Blaine, who were both finally making some real money, had moved out of their crappy apartment and into Rachel's much nicer one.

After a few weeks there, they were finally settled in. Blaine was hoping that something hadn't gone wrong with the electricity, because the room was dark save for the candles placed on all of the surfaces within it.

"Kurt?" he called out cautiously. He really couldn't see all that well into the room, but his eyes were slowly adjusting.

"Over here," Kurt called. Blaine stepped forward, toeing off his shoes and following Kurt's voice.

He found him sitting on a thick blanket in the middle of the room, where the couch had been before. The couch was pushed back against the wall, Blaine noted, and pillows surrounded Kurt and a bucket with a bottle of champagne was sitting next to him—_oh._

"Special occasion?" Blaine asked, taking another step towards Kurt. He ran through dates in his head. Meeting at Dalton: November 9th. First kiss: March 15th. First time having sex: November 11th. Kurt's birthday: May 27th. Blaine's birthday: October 29th. None of those were today, and he couldn't think of any more.

"Come sit," Kurt said, patting the spot on the blanket in front of him. Blaine did so.

"It's not a special occasion today," Kurt admitted. "But _next _year, August 23rd will be the anniversary of that time I surprised you and we had the best sex _ever_. Okay?"

"Okay," Blaine whispered, before allowing Kurt to pull him forward by his tie and kiss him.

* * *

><p><em>Today for you - tomorrow for me<em>

_Today for you - tomorrow for me_

...

Blaine collapsed back against the pillows behind him.

"Oh my god," he said "I love you so much."

Even though Blaine couldn't see him, he could hear the smirk in Kurt's voice as he said, "I love you too, honey."

"I _love _you," Blaine repeated. He propped himself up on his elbows so he could see Kurt, his face illuminated beautifully by the candles and the moonlight streaming through the window. "Now come over here, it's your turn."

Kurt shook his head.

"No," he said, in _that _voice that drove Blaine crazy. "Tonight's all about you. You come over here."

"But—" Blaine protested. Kurt shut him up with a kiss.

"Don't worry," he whispered against Blaine's lips. "We'll make tomorrow about me."

* * *

><p><em>When You're Dancing Her Dance<em>

_You Don't Stand A Chance_

_Her Grip Of Romance_

_Makes You Fall_

...

"I never stood a chance, did I," Blaine mumbled absentmindedly, watching Kurt walk away from the table.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Oh." Blaine had forgotten that she and Alex were there. "Nothing."

Of course, Rachel wasn't going to let that go.

"Don't stand a chance at what?" she asked.

Blaine blushed. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"You go somewhere," she commanded, pushing Alex out of the booth. "Go talk to Kurt or something."

"Rachel," Alex protested. "Guys aren't like girls. We don't actually talk in bathrooms."

"I don't care," Rachel said, glaring at him. "Go do it."

Alex took a cautious step back. For the past month, Rachel's pregnancy hormones had been getting worse and worse. She was even more dramatic and easy to anger than usual at the moment. Blaine took a moment to pity Alex for being straight and having to live with a hormonal girl.

"Okay," Alex squeaked, and walked away from the table quickly.

Rachel sighed and turned to Blaine.

"He's been so _nervous _lately," she confided. "I have no idea why, honestly."

Blaine nodded, deciding not to explain it to her and be on the receiving end on another one of her terrifying dirty looks.

"Now," she said, suddenly business like. "What about not standing a chance?"

"I was just thinking," he said. "That there was no way I could have ever _not _fallen in love with him. Kurt."

Rachel smiled, silently urging him to continue.

"Like, even if I tried really, really hard not to. He's just way too perfect."

"I know," Rachel agreed. "We all knew it."

"What?" Blaine asked.

"When Kurt talked about you after he first met you. We didn't think you were in love with him, but we could all tell you would be someday."

"Really?" Blaine asked.

"Blaine, neither of you is perfect," Rachel said. "You, for instance, suck at romance. Kurt doesn't practice his scales and drink a tablespoon of honey every morning, like he really should. _Both _of you used me for free takeout for three years."

Blaine winced. They had recently confessed to Rachel that they did not fight nearly as much as she thought they did, and that they owed her a total of $196.32 (Kurt had been adamant that he steal the receipts from the takeout bag so they could pay her back in full).

She hadn't been too upset about it, though. She had decided that if they took her and Alex out for an expensive dinner, since she wouldn't be able to go out much after her baby was born, they would be even.

Which brought them here, and to this conversation.

"But we could all see that you were perfect for each other," Rachel continued.

Blaine raised his eyebrows.

"No, really," Rachel said. "Artie was the one who came up with your couple name, right after you and I… broke up, for lack of a better term."

Blaine coughed awkwardly.

"Klaine?" he asked, aware that this was what most of their friends used to refer to them both at the same time.

"Yes," Rachel said. "Sam wanted it to be Kurt CoBlaine, though."

Blaine laughed, impressed.

"That's quite clever," he admitted.

"And Artie kept looking at you two together and proclaiming that 'Klaine is endgame."

"Wow," Blaine said.

Then he noticed Kurt and Alex walking back from the bathroom. Alex looked guilty and embarrassed. Kurt looked unnerved.

Blaine signed in resignation.

"You're going to tell him everything I said word-for-word, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, I am," Rachel admitted. "But don't be embarrassed, it was rather sweet. And if it makes you feel any better, he had absolutely no chance either."

* * *

><p><em>There's only us<em>

_There's only this_

...

Blaine led Kurt inside and sat him down on the couch.

"Baby," he said. "Calm down. They don't matter, okay?"

"They certainly mattered a minute ago!" Kurt cried. "They matter when they're yelling at you about how much they hate you."

"Shh," Blaine said comfortingly. "They don't matter. They can't touch us, remember?"

Kurt shook his head.

"Blaine, when I said that, I was a stupid kid, okay? I didn't know anything," he protested.

"You knew that," Blaine disagreed. "You were right. It's only us here. They're all out there but it doesn't matter what they think or say because we're together, and they can't stop that. Okay?"

Kurt sighed.

"Okay," he agreed after a minute.

"They can't touch us," Blaine repeated.

"Or what we have," Kurt quoted with a tiny smile.

* * *

><p><em>You wanna prowl<em>

_Be my night owl?_

_Well take my hand we're gonna howl_

_Out tonight!_

...

"Hey Blaine," a voice whispered in Blaine's ear from behind him. Blaine jumped violently.

"Jesus, Kurt, don't _do _that!" he yelped, spinning in his desk chair to face Kurt.

Kurt giggled.

"Seriously," Blaine said, once he had calmed down. "Anyway. Yes, Kurt?"

"You know what we haven't done in a while?" Kurt asked.

"What haven't we done it a while?" Blaine mimicked.

"We haven't gotten all dressed up and gone to some gay bar and danced all night and gotten drunk and then come home at 3 in the morning and had wild drunk sex that made our neighbors hate us."

Kurt said all this in a tantalizing whisper that made Blaine shiver.

"Don't you think that were getting a little too old for that?" Blaine stammered as Kurt ran his hand lightly through Blaine's hair. "_Kurt_."

Kurt smirked.

"That," he said, stepping away from Blaine. "Is exactly why we need to do it one last time. Now come in here so I can do your hair."

* * *

><p><em>Take Your Brown Eyes<em>

_Your Pretty Smile_

_Your Silhouette_

...

"Just go away."

"Kurt, I really don't think that's a good idea."

Kurt looked at Blaine. His beautiful golden eyes were dark with concern. His mouth was set in a worried line.

For a moment, all Kurt wanted was to see Blaine's smile again. Then he remembered what he was begging Blaine for at the moment and why he was doing so.

None of them understood. None of them got that he didn't _want _to be around people and be told it would be okay or that they were sorry. His teachers didn't, the first time that this happened. And Blaine didn't now.

"I just want to be alone, okay?" Kurt shouted. "Just leave me alone!" Then he buried his head in his hands and rocked back and forth on the edge of the bed.

He flinched when he felt a soft kiss on the top of his head.

"Come get me if you need, me, okay?" Blaine said softly. Kurt didn't respond.

He didn't look up until he knew that Blaine was no longer facing him, and only caught a glimpse of Blaine's dark silhouette against the light from the hallway streaming into their dark bedroom. Then the door shut and Kurt was alone in the dark.

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut and a few more tears leaked out.

He didn't want people with him. He didn't want Rachel or Finn or Carol. He didn't want Blaine. He didn't want sympathy or hugs or false reassurances.

He just wanted his father to wake up.

* * *

><p><em>Will I wake tomorrow<em>

_From this nightmare?_

_..._

_The church bell tolling in the distance was the only sound to be heard. The people around him were silent, with their heads bowed. He was the only one looking as the box lowered into the ground._

_ He was crying. Then he cried out as the box shuddered to a halt and the lid swung open of its own accord._

_ Still nobody around him looked. But he did._

_ He peered into the box. He stepped forward to look more closely to see who it was._

_ The peaceful, smiling face of his mother looked back at him. Her eyes were closed. She could have been sleeping. _

_ He gasped and cried harder. He shouldn't have to see this. He was only eight years old. He was a child. He wanted his daddy._

_ But when he looked back, his mother was gone. Instead, his father lay in the box. Kurt screamed. Still nobody around him looked up. _

_ He looked down at himself. He wasn't eight. He wasn't a child. He was twenty-six years old and his father was in a coffin and he was screaming. _

_ Then, right before his eyes, his father changed. Now it was Finn in the box, a goofy smile on his face even though his eyes were closed._

_ Now it was Carol. She was smiling her motherly smile at him, the one that she used to only give Finn but shared with him now._

_ Rachel, grinning like she had just sung a solo. She was holding Barbra, just six months old but smiling sweetly against her mother's chest._

_ Blaine, eyes shut tight but still giving Kurt that beautiful smile…_

Kurt awoke with a start, breathing heavily. He felt tears on his cheeks.

"Thank God," he heard a voice say above him. "You're awake." Kurt jerked in surprise before remembering.

"Blaine," he said in relief.

"I'm here," Blaine said. Kurt blinked. Their bedside lamp was on, and he could see that Blaine had been crying a little too.

"You're here," Kurt confirmed. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine," Blaine reassured him.

"Finn and Carol and Rachel and Barbra? Are they—?" Kurt couldn't bear to say it. He was still shaking.

"Baby, they're all fine. It was just a nightmare," Blaine said, pulling him close.

"Dad?" Kurt asked desperately.

Blaine nodded.

"Your dad is fine. He woke up last week. He's _fine_. Try to remember," Blaine urged him.

Then Kurt did. He remembered the wonderful moment of relief when Finn had called him and told him that Burt had woken up and the doctors had predicted a full recovery. He remembered asking to talk with his dad but crying too hard to actually say anything once he was on the phone.

He lifted a hand and wiped the tears from his face.

"I remember," he said.

"It's all okay," Blaine promised.

Kurt nodded and pressed his face onto Blaine's chest, rerunning the memory of his father's recovery over and over in his head.

* * *

><p><em>Anywhere else you could possibly go <em>

_After New York would be a pleasure cruise_

...

"Kurt?" Blaine shouted.

"Yeah?" Kurt responded just as loudly.

Blaine sighed, but Kurt couldn't hear him over the racket.

"Are all kids like this?" he asked. Kurt laughed and looked at Barbra. She was toddling around the room in the closest thing to dance that she could accomplish and wailing some sort of wordless song, grinning widely.

"No, sweetie," Kurt said, collapsing on the couch. "Only Rachel Berry kids are like this."

"Thank God," Blaine muttered, before looking back to Barbra. "Don't get me wrong, I love that kid, but she's been singing the same song for half an hour now."

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Can you differentiate between her songs? She has a lovely voice but the lyrics leave much to be desired."

Blaine laughed.

"Barbra," he called.

Barbra stopped singing and looked up at him with those big brown eyes that made Blaine's heart melt.

"Honey, do you want to watch a movie?' Kurt suggested.

Barbra nodded enthusiastically and toddled over to climb onto Blaine's lap.

"What movie do you want, sweetie?" Blaine asked.

Barbra considered this for a moment.

"Little Mermaid," she finally said. Kurt smiled and went to put Barbra's favorite movie into the DVD player.

"Ugh. I want to go on vacation," he whined. "I've never _been _anywhere! And Rachel and Alex are off jet setting around Europe while we watch their daughter. How fair is that?"

"Just two more days till they get back," Blaine reminded him.

"Still doesn't change the fact that Rachel beat me to Europe," Kurt muttered.

Blaine smiled. Even after all this time, his boyfriend was still adorable.

"You beat her to Broadway," he reminded Kurt.

"It's true," Kurt said thoughtfully. "But you can't go shopping in Milan on Broadway."

"So if you could go anywhere," Blaine said. "Where would you go?"

Kurt thought about this.

"Paris," he responded, winking at Blaine. "City of love. And great food. And cutting-edge fashion. And low crime rates. I love New York, but I'd love to go somewhere more relaxed and just take a vacation, you know?"

"I'll keep that in mind," Blaine said. Kurt blushed and looked down.

"Blaine," he said softly.

"Mhmm?" Blaine hummed in response, watching Ariel sing on the TV.

"Look," Kurt said, pointing at Blaine's lap. Barbra had fallen fast asleep.

"Apparently I can handle even the most Rachel Berry-esque of children," Blaine mused.

"I'll keep that in mind," Kurt said.

Blaine smiled.

* * *

><p><em>All my life<em>

_I've longed to discover _

_Something as true as this is_

_..._

"I'm honored that you've asked for my help with this, Blaine," Rachel said, peering into the glass case in front of her. Blaine laughed.

"When Alex proposed to you, Kurt made me promise to get your help if I ever proposed to anyone. And he's right, I'm hopeless at this stuff," Blaine explained.

"It's true," Rachel agreed thoughtfully. "What about this one?"

She pointed to a thin silver band with a long row of tiny diamonds on it.

"It's beautiful," Blaine admitted. "But I don't think that's it. I think I'll know it when I see it. That's how Alex found yours."

"Really?" Rachel asked, her interest piqued.

"Yeah. He went on all of these websites to figure out what kind of ring was best for you. He decided that your ring had to have a princess cut diamond, and it had to be a really thin silver band but still thick enough that he could carve "One Hand, One Heart" into it," Blaine explained.

Rachel looked down at her ring finger, then back up at Blaine in puzzlement.

"So Kurt and I went with him to Tiffany's," Blaine continued. "And we searched until Kurt found this really beautiful ring just like what he wanted. Kurt brought Alex over to look at it, and Alex just said, 'That's not Rachel. It needs to be Rachel.'"

Rachel giggled.

"Then he looked over six inches to the left and saw this ring that had an oval cut diamond, that looked nothing like the ring he was looking for, and said, 'There's Rachel's ring.'"

Blaine resumed looking at the rings as he continued to speak.

"Then we went to get it engraved and he said that it shouldn't say 'One Hand, One Heart,' but he didn't know what it should say. Probably for the better. Apparently he wasn't aware of the fact that I was your Tony and we kissed like twenty times because of it."

Rachel laughed.

"Kind of a mood killer," she admitted. "No offense."

"None taken," Blaine said, winking at her. "Kurt told him that a lot of people just write what they want on the ring. Like 'Together Forever,' or 'Never to Part' and stuff like that. So he asked Alex what he wanted. Alex got this really weird thoughtful look on his face and said, 'I just want her to let me shine with her forever.' It was disgustingly romantic. I swear he's even more of a drama queen than you are."

Rachel twisted her engagement ring around her finger. On the inner rim, she knew, the phrase 'Shining Together,' was carved in cursive script.

"He never told you that?" Blaine asked.

"No," Rachel said. "But when he proposed to me, I knew the ring was perfect, too."

"Do you think he'll say yes?" Blaine asked.

Rachel laughed.

"Blaine, you know he's going to say yes," she replied.

"Really?" Blaine asked, needing reassurance.

"Blaine," Rachel said. "All of Kurt's life he'd been trying to find love, until he met you. He kept trying so hard. But he never did."

"Okay," Blaine responded, unsure of where Rachel was going with this.

"Then he went to Dalton, but he wasn't looking there. He just wanted to prove some point to Puck, or something. And he found you there. So now he's always saying that love isn't true if you search for it, and he learned that with you," Rachel explained. "He was telling me all this, and he said, 'You'd think that I'd be annoyed at myself for not figuring that out earlier. But I'm not, because I don't want to figure out love with anyone but Blaine.'"

Blaine stared at her.

"He said that?" he asked quietly, trying to contain his emotion.

"He did," Rachel confirmed. "He wants to do _everything _with you, Blaine. He wanted to be your boyfriend and move to New York with you and live together. He also wants to get married and start a family and spend his life with you. Nobody else. "

"Oh," Blaine said thoughtfully. He looked back down at the glass case, biting his lip and feeling like his heart was going to explode. Suddenly, his eyes focused on one ring.

"Rachel," Blaine said. "There it is."

"Where?" Rachel asked excitedly.

Blaine pointed into the case at a silver band near the back. It was a simple silver band, inlaid with a row of alternating sapphires and diamond inlaid in the top.

"That's it," Rachel agreed breathlessly.

* * *

><p><em>Leap of faith, leap of faith, leap of faith, leap of faith<em>

...

"It's so beautiful out here. I love how the trees look in the fall, don't you?" Kurt said.

Blaine nodded.

"Are you okay? You've been acting weird all day. Do you want to go home?" Kurt asked.

"No," Blaine said immediately. "I mean, no, let's walk a little bit more."

They were walking together through Central Park. It was late evening, and there weren't too many people around, which helped Blaine's nerves a little.

He spotted his destination and let out a shaky breath.

"Come this way," he said, pulling Kurt by the hand over to the fountain.

"Sure," Kurt said, sounding puzzled. Once they reached the fountain, Blaine stopped and turned to face Kurt.

Trying not to stutter, he spoke.

"Do you remember when I first came to visit you here?" Blaine asked.

"Of course I do," Kurt replied.

"You picked me up at the airport, and I tried to kiss you, remember? But you wouldn't let me."

Kurt smiled at the memory.

"Yeah," he said.

"You said that if we were going to live in New York together, our first kiss here should be really memorable, somewhere we could always come back to. So we got in a taxi and came straight from the airport to Central Park because you wanted to show me the Bethesda Fountain."

Kurt smiled at the memory.

"Then you brought me over to this spot right here," Blaine said as he pointed to the ground where they were standing. "And you kissed me."

"I was even more of a silly romantic then, I think," Kurt said.

"It's not silly," Blaine said. "So I brought you here because I wanted this to be really memorable too."

Then he knelt to the ground in front of Kurt.

Kurt's eyes widened.

"Oh my God," he said.

"Good 'Oh my God' or bad 'Oh my God'?" Blaine asked nervously.

"Good 'Oh my God'. Keep going," Kurt said, sounding a little choked up.

"I love you. So much. I never, ever want to not be with you, Kurt," Blaine said, fighting to get the words out without crying along with Kurt. "There's so much I still want to do in life. And every single thing I still want to do, I want to do with you. I want to do _everything _with you. I want to spend the rest of my life as your husband, and I want to start doing it now. I promise that I will _always _love you and be there for you and try as hard as I can to make you as happy as you make me."

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the box.

"I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to be someone's husband. But I didn't know how to be somebody's boyfriend before I met you, either. But we took a leap of faith and learned together. And I have loved every single second of figuring it out with you. And if you let me, want to take this leap of faith with you, too," he said.

Tears were flowing freely from Kurt's eyes now, but he made no move to wipe them away. He kept his eyes fixed on Blaine's.

Blaine opened the box and took Kurt's left hand in his.

"Kurt, will you marry me?" he asked.

Kurt sniffed.

"Yes," he said hoarsely. "Yes, I'll marry you."

Blaine grinned and pulled the ring out of the velvet box, then slid it carefully onto Kurt's finger. Kurt smiled widely at him through his tears.

"Come here," he said, and hauled Blaine to his feet. As soon as Blaine was standing, Kurt wrapped his arms around him and pulled him as close to himself as possible.

They both looked up suddenly at a noise. They looked over to where it was coming from.

Sitting by the fountain not far from them, a little girl was jumping up and down and clapping.

"He said yes!" she said happily to her mother. "They're gonna get married!"

Her mother shushed her, giving the boys an apologetic smile.

"Shh," she said. The girl paid her no mind and continued clapping until her mother pulled her away from the fountain. As she left, she turned and mouthed "Congratulations. I'm sorry."

They both smiled back at her before turning to each other.

"I love New York," Blaine sighed, thinking about how differently that would have gone if he had been proposing to Kurt in a public park in Lima.

"I love _you_," Kurt said. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Blaine replied.

Kurt lifted his left hand to examine it.

"It's beautiful," he murmured.

"It has an engraving. On the inside," Blaine said, nervous all over again.

Kurt pulled the ring off and held it up so he could read it in the dim light.

_Together, we're unlimited._

"It's perfect," he said, sliding the ring back onto his finger. "Do you have one?"

"Oh. No," Blaine said. "I figured we could pick one out for me. I got to pick for you, right? And you're the fashionable one so you should have a say in what mine looks like."

Kurt laughed.

"I am the fashionable one," he agreed. "But you're supposed to be bad at romance. Which, clearly, you're not."

"Rachel helped," Blaine admitted.

"We should call people," Kurt said.

"Well…" Blaine began, looking guilty. "Your family knew that I was going to propose soon. Rachel and Alex knew it was tonight. And Rachel might have already told everyone else."

"Really?" Kurt asked in exasperation. "Fine. But I'm still calling Carol and all of the girls and giving them the details."

Blaine smiled and pulled Kurt down to kiss him.

* * *

><p><em>Not to mention of course,<em>

_Hating dear old mom and dad_

...

"I'm making all of you try on your dresses the second you get here, 'Cedes, because we're already cutting it close if any of them need adjustments. I'm coming to pick you and Sam up from the airport, but we're going to have to wait for a while there for Finn's flight to come in, too. Did you get your shoes?" Kurt said into his phone as he fumbled with his keys.

_"Yeah, I did. They're black; don't worry. And they look damn fine. I also found Sam some dress shoes, because the ones he came up with were brown. Seriously, that boy will never learn."_

"Thank God he has you, Mercedes," Kurt said reverently. "That reminds me; I have to call all of my fashion-challenged groomsmen who don't have fabulous wives and make sure they bring the right shoes—"

He stopped talking as he entered the apartment.

"'Cedes, I have to go, I'll call you later, I promise," he said quickly, barely waiting for her goodbye to hang up and drop his bag to the ground.

"Blaine," he said quietly as he approached his fiancé. Blaine was sitting on the couch next to the window, staring out into the rain. His eyes were red and puffy, but he wasn't crying. He was just looking straight ahead numbly.

"Blaine, honey. What's wrong?" Kurt asked, reaching Blaine and placing a hand on his arm. Blaine didn't move or respond.

Kurt sat next to him.

"Baby, please tell me. You're scaring me."

"They're not coming," Blaine said flatly. His face was devoid of emotion, like he'd completely gotten all of it out before Kurt had come home.

"Who?" Kurt asked, though a knot formed in his stomach at the thought of whom Blaine was likely talking about.

"My parents aren't coming to the wedding," Blaine said, still with no emotion, still staring out the window.

"But they said they were coming just last week, honey," Kurt said, clinging to the possibility that Blaine was somehow mistaken.

Blaine shrugged.

"Changed their minds, I guess," he said, his expression blank.

"Blaine," Kurt said, softly. He was sort of terrified of Blaine right now—not for himself, but because he had no idea how to help. He'd dealt with sad Blaine, and angry Blaine, but he'd never seen his fiancé look this defeated. Like he was close to completely giving up.

He took Blaine's hand and carefully pulled his ring off of his finger. Blaine made a noise of protest, but Kurt shushed him and handed him the ring.

"What does that say?" he asked quietly. "On the ring?"

Blaine looked, even though he knew exactly what it said.

"'Courage'," he recited dully.

"I know that this is hard. I know that it's so much harder to stand up to people you love than people you don't. But you can't let _anybody _stop you from living your life the way you want to. Even if they love you, and you love them," Kurt said firmly. "You need to have courage to live your own life."

"They don't love me," Blaine muttered.

"They do, baby," Kurt said. "They do. They're uncomfortable with one part of you. That's not a good thing, but it doesn't mean that they don't love you. Besides, they RSVP'd before, remember?"

"So?" Blaine asked.

"So that means that they were struggling with it. They wanted to come even though it scared them. And they lost the struggle this time, but they tried. They're not as brave as you are, but they want to be," Kurt explained, stroking Blaine's cheek. "If they didn't love you, they would have thrown away the invitation and forgotten about the whole thing. And if you didn't love them, you wouldn't be upset right now."

"I guess," Blaine sighed, putting his ring back on.

"No. You know that they love you, Blaine," Kurt said firmly.

Blaine closed his eyes.

"I do," he finally said. "I know."

* * *

><p><em>Who Knows Where <em>

_Who Goes There _

_Who Knows _

_Here Goes_

...

They drove to Rachel's house together, because they also had to give Brittany, Santana, and Finn a ride from Kurt and Blaine's apartment, where they had been staying for the past week.

Screw tradition; they were on a budget and they weren't going to waste money on extra gas.

They did plan to get dressed in different rooms, though. Rachel had converted her bedroom and bathroom to a dressing room for the girls and the guest room into one for the boys.

Rachel had been incredible. She was allowing them to use her backyard for their ceremony and reception (Kurt didn't want to get married in a church, Blaine wanted to get married outdoors and Rachel had a huge yard.), the kitchen for storing food, and the bedrooms for getting ready. They had completely taken over her house, and she was a godsend for letting them.

"Santana, can you gather all the bridesmaids and Barbra and get them to Rachel's room? Finn, you get the groomsmen to the guest room and don't let any of them leave until Blaine has confirmed that you look good enough. And he's judging by my standards, not his, so put some effort into it for once. Pick the boutonnières up from Rachel first, though. Brittany, you go check on the food and _please _don't eat any frosting off of the cake. Oh, and Santana, you also need to make sure that nobody enters that kitchen once they're dressed. Those dresses are white and you are not getting food on them," Kurt said quickly.

Santana looked at him, slightly alarmed.

"Damn, Porcelain," she said. "Aren't we the head bitch in charge today?"

"It's my wedding, I'm allowed to be whatever head bitch I want," Kurt growled. Then his face went red as Santana burst out laughing.

"Save it for the honeymoon, Lady," she said, winking and getting out of the car.

Kurt coughed.

"Okay, Blaine. Go to the guest room and await further instructions," he said.

"Dude," Finn said in awe. "If you didn't want to do musicals you could totally be a drill sergeant."

Kurt sniffed.

"Like I would ever wear camouflage," he said. "Come on."

He stalked into the house. Finn and Blaine lagged behind a second.

"Hey, man?" Finn said.

"Yeah?" Blaine answered, looking up at Finn.

"Don't hurt my brother and stuff, okay?" Finn requested.

"I won't," Blaine promised.

"Cool," Finn said with an air of finality before walking into the house. Blaine followed him, shaking his head in bemusement.

Then he stopped short as soon as he entered the foyer. Kurt was already in the room, and he was staring at the exact same thing that Blaine was.

"What are you doing here?" Blaine asked nervously. "Are you—You said that—"

He shook his head. Kurt stepped back and took his hand.

"We came for your wedding," Blaine's mother said quietly. "If you want us here."

Beside her, Blaine's father nodded, looking terrified about what his son's response might be.

Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand, pressing his finger to the ring on Blaine's finger. Blaine got the message. _Courage_.

"Of course I want you here," he replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

His mother's face crumpled and she launched herself at Blaine, hugging him tightly. Blaine hugged her back, looking like a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

Blaine's father nodded at Kurt politely, if a bit awkwardly. They had met Kurt before, but only a few times in high school when Kurt had gone to Blaine's house and talked politely with them.

Blaine pulled out of his mother's arms and looked hesitantly at his father, who stepped forward and placed his hand on Blaine's shoulder, smiling at him.

Meanwhile, Kurt was dealing with the shock of Mrs. Anderson hugging him, too. Oh. She was still hugging him. He patted her back awkwardly.

"Rachel said that we still have place settings and everything," Mr. Anderson said. "Because we RSVP'd. So we'd… like to be here."

Blaine nodded.

"So have you g—"

He was interrupted by a scream from the kitchen.

"Kurt!" Brittany screamed frantically. "Puck's trying to get to the cake and I can't stop him!"

Kurt cursed under his breath, sent a guilty look at Blaine's parents, and dashed out of the room.

"So," Blaine repeated. "You guys have met Rachel?"

Rachel was standing by his parents, looking unsure of whether she was supposed to be friendly to them or not. Blaine smiled slightly at her and nodded.

"She was just telling me that she was going to be you two's Maid of Honor," he mother confirmed.

"Oh. Yeah. Kurt really wanted his brother to be his Best Man, and we wanted to have a Maid of Honor too and Rachel's kind of our best friend, so…"

Rachel beamed at him.

Then Finn entered the room.

"Sorry, Blaine, but you really need to come get dressed because we've got this really long list of instructions for how to do your hair, and it looks like it's going to take a while," he said.

Rachel and Finn appeared to be only a little bit uncomfortable with being Best Man and Maid of Honor together. Alex didn't seem to mind; he was going to walk down the aisle with Quinn and being very reasonable about the whole thing. Sure, Finn was Rachel's ex, but they were both the perfect choice for their respective role in the wedding.

"Yeah, okay," Blaine agreed. "I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Can we do anything to help?" his father offered.

"That would be amazing," Kurt said from the doorway as he walked towards them, dragging Puck behind his with a tight grim on his forearm. "My father thinks he can get the chairs set up all by himself, but he has a bad heart and really could use some help."

"Why are your fingernails so long? You're hurting me, dude!" Puck complained. Kurt ignored him.

"Blaine, take this one and go to the guest room already," he said, shoving Puck in Blaine's general direction.

"I was just going to eat the icing on the sides of the box! I didn't even touch the cake," Puck protested.

Blaine shrugged, knowing that any sympathy towards Puck would redirect Kurt's glare onto him.

"Come on," he said, pulling Puck down the hallway and waving to his parents. "I'll see you guys soon."

"Rachel, why don't you show Mr. and Mrs. Anderson to the backyard? Then come to your room. I'm pretty sure everyone else is up there by now. "

...

Later, Kurt stood in front of Rachel's floor length mirror, staring at himself.

"Good?" he asked the girls around him, squeaking slightly.

"You look amazing, Kurt," Tina assured him. "Blaine's not going to know what hit him."

Kurt let out a shaky laugh and turned to face the girls.

"You all look beautiful," he said. "And not just because I have fabulous taste in universally flattering groomsmaid dresses. You're going to upstage me."

Mercedes snorted.

"Like anyone could ever upstage Kurt Hummel," she said. "Even though that is why we're not supposed to wear white, Kurt."

"Please. I'm not a bride, I'm not wearing white, so why shouldn't you get to? It's my wedding," Kurt said.

"Kurt," Quinn said, glancing at the clock. "We really do need to go out now."

"Oh," Kurt said with wide eyes. "I guess we do. Okay. "

"Kurt," Santana said in a shockingly soft voice. "Don't be nervous. You'll be fine. Just think about what it's going to be like after all this and you and Blaine are married."

Kurt relaxed slightly.

"You're right," he said.

"Good. Let's go," said Brittany.

"Here goes," Kurt murmured, following Brittany out the door.

...

"It's okay to be nervous, Blaine. I was. I was freaking out right before my wedding," Sam said.

"Really?" Blaine said hopefully.

"Really. You'll be fine. Don't think about all the people. Think about Kurt," Sam suggested.

Blaine took a deep breath and nodded.

"Do I look okay?" he asked the boys.

Artie looked down at the typed-up document he was holding.

"Your hair had better look okay; we followed all of the steps perfectly," he said. Blaine didn't look reassured.

"Blaine, you look great," Rory said. The other boys nodded.

"We need to go," Mike said. Blaine looked around at his friends.

"Thanks, guys," he said.

"No problem," Alex said. "I was a _way _bigger mess at my wedding, and you handled that, didn't you?"

Blaine nodded and opened the door.

"Here goes," he mumbled.

* * *

><p><em>To me<em>

_To me_

_To you, and you And you, you And you_

...

"…Anyway. I love you, bro," Finn said, wrapping up his speech. "And other bro, who's not really my brother, but he is my bro. Even though Kurt's technically not my real brother genetics-wise. But he's still my brother, and my bro."

He took a moment to think about this.

"So, you're both my bros and I love you guys," he finished awkwardly, to the general amusement of the crowd.

Kurt rolled his eyes slightly, but smiled.

"Love you too, Finn," he said.

Finn grinned at him.

Then Kurt stood up.

"So, I just really want to say thank you to everybody here," he said. "And I want to thank our fabulous friends, who have stuck with us since high school. I love you guys."

Brittany began to clap, but Santana quickly shushed her. Kurt wasn't finished.

"I wanted to give a toast to Rachel and Alex, because they let us commandeer their house. And Mike, who used his convenient familial connections to get us amazing catering on incredibly short notice. And Quinn, who decorated the entire cake for us. And—"

"And me, right?" Santana interrupted in an impatient tone.

"Okay. And Santana, because—"

"And me!" Puck called out.

"And Puck," Kurt continued, only slightly irritated. Blaine watched him in amusement.

"And—"

"Fine! A toast to Rachel, Alex, Mike, Quinn, Santana, Puck, Tina, Mercedes, Finn, Sugar, Sam, Rory, Brittany, and Artie. You guys were amazing this whole time even though I've been yelling at you all week."

"Why am I last?" Artie piped up, affronted.

Kurt glared at him, and Artie held up his hands in surrender.

"Despite the constant interruptions and general narcissism you've displayed in the past five minutes, I somehow love you all," Kurt finished, sighing.

"We love you too Kurt!" Brittany shouted, fist-pumping.

Kurt shook his head weakly. Blaine laughed and leaned over to kiss him.

* * *

><p><em>In diapers, report cards<em>

_In spoked wheels and speeding tickets_

...

Brittany pressed the doorbell button to ring it, but she didn't hear anything. She frowned. Maybe it was broken. She pressed it again, then pushed it in and didn't let go until the door opened.

"Brittany!" Kurt exclaimed. "Why do you do that _every time_?"

"Because I can't hear it!" she explained in distress. "How do I know if it's broken?"

Kurt sighed.

"Hi, Santana," he said tiredly. "Come on in. You're early."

The two girls followed him into the house.

"Santana likes to drive fast," Brittany explained. "We got stopped by a cop, but he let us go."

"When you're up against both me and Britt flirting with you, you really don't stand a chance," Santana noted. "You rearranged the living room again."

"Blaine does that compulsively," Kurt explained. "And I let him do so on the condition that he never disrupt the epitome of organization that is my kitchen."

"Your man needs a new hobby," Santana said thoughtfully. "Like drag racing, or maybe exotic dancing."

Blaine coughed from his position in the doorway. Santana turned to face him in surprise.

"I'm not even sorry," she said, shrugging, after a moment. "Speaking completely objectively as a married lesbian, a lot of people would pay to get a peek at that."

"You'd think," Kurt said drily. "That you might have gotten a little more mature and a little less vulgar since high school."

"I think it's hot," Brittany said honestly, her eyes wide.

Kurt blinked.

"Okay," he said. "Does anybody want anything to drink?"

"Can I have some of your warm milk?" Brittany asked excitedly. "Whenever I try to make it at home the fire alarm goes off."

"But Britt, it always puts you to sleep," Kurt protested.

Brittany gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," Kurt relented.

"Diet Coke," Santana ordered before plopping herself down on their couch, pulling Brittany down with her.

Kurt, who was used to Santana's lack of manners, just nodded and headed into the kitchen.

Santana stood up.

"I'm going to go powder my nose," she said. Then she turned and walked down the hall without waiting for an answer. Since she and Brittany had moved to the city, they visited Kurt and Blaine often enough to know their way around the house.

"So guess what," Brittany said.

"What?" Blaine asked.

"Yesterday, San said that we were a way hotter couple than you guys. And she bets that we had way more sex on our honeymoon. I counted, and we did it twenty-two times. So did we beat you?" Brittany asked.

Blaine closed his eyes and shook his head. He was used to Brittany being extremely upfront about things sometimes, but it was still made for uncomfortable situations.

"Brittany, I didn't _count,_" he said defensively. "Besides, we wanted to actually _see_ Paris, besides, you know, the inside of the hotel room."

Brittany nodded.

"We beat you, didn't we?" she asked sympathetically. Blaine sighed.

"Maybe," he admitted. "But not by all that much, and your honeymoon was longer than ours!"

Brittany giggled.

"You're a sore loser," she said.

Kurt entered the room then, carrying Brittany's warm milk and Santana's soda.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked, sitting down beside Blaine. Blaine turned red.

"Sex," Brittany said plainly. Blaine groaned.

"Okay…" Kurt said, glancing at Blaine, who shook his head tiredly.

"Warm milk!" Brittany exclaimed. She grabbed it from Kurt and took a sip, grinning.

Santana reentered the room and sat down.

"Okay. So we're actually here for a reason besides making Blaine as uncomfortable as possible," she began. "Yes, you can hear the living room from the hallway, Blaine. You should know that by now."

Blaine blushed. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Brittany bit her lip.

"So how's the adoption process going?" she asked.

Kurt winced slightly.

"We're in the system. We just have to wait for a mother to pick us, which is apparently not happening," he said.

Blaine took his hand comfortingly.

"That's dumb," Brittany said. "You two would be the best parents ever."

Blaine shrugged.

"Apparently a lot of people would beg to differ," he said.

"Well, Santana and I were talking about it," Brittany said.

"You two deserve to have kids," Santana said plainly. "Britt's right; you'd be way better parents than anybody else I know, you've got a house and plenty of money and everything."

"We know that," Kurt said.

"Well, we talked about it," Santana said, gesturing to Brittany. "And we know that you don't want to ask any of us, because it is a lot to ask. And I know that you couldn't find a surrogate anywhere else, because the world sucks. But I've thought about this a lot, and I wanted to offer to do it for you. Be a surrogate."

Kurt and Blaine looked shocked.

"Santana, you're right, that is a lot to ask," Blaine said reluctantly. "It'd be really hard on you."

She nodded.

"I know," she admitted. "But it'd be so worth it."

Brittany nodded.

"We want to help," she said. "Like Shelby. Only for free, because we love you guys."

Kurt's eyes welled up.

"Seriously?" he asked.

Santana and Brittany nodded.

He looked over at Blaine, and they locked eyes for just a moment.

"That would be amazing," Kurt finally said.

"If you're sure about it," Blaine added. "We'd love that."

"I'm sure. I've been thinking about it ever since you guys started trying," Santana said. "I'll help, too. I'll change diapers and everything. We'll help as much as you guys want us to."

Brittany nodded.

Kurt sniffed and clutched Blaine's hand.

Santana, in an extremely rare display of nonsexual physical affection, stood and hugged him.

Blaine hugged them both, and soon they were all holding each other and crying just a little bit.

* * *

><p><em>Women, what is it about them? <em>

_Can't live with them or without them_

...

Kurt was startled out of a very pleasant dream involving a hot tub in Hawaii, pineapple margaritas, and Blaine by a shrill ringing.

He groaned and shoved Blaine awake.

"Get the phone," he ordered. Blaine yawned and complied, picking up the phone from the nightstand on his side of the bed.

"Hello?" he yawned again into the phone, then fully woke up at the sound of the screaming on the other side.

_"Blaine, Santana's screaming in Spanish again,"_ Brittany explained. _"And she keeps saying 'Curls' so I think she wants you."_

Blaine groaned. He could hear Santana yelling in the background.

"_Brittany, dame el maldito teléfono!" _Blaine heard. He braced himself.

"Santana?" he asked weakly. She didn't return his greeting.

_"Escucha, si no me traes unos nachos este segundo, voy a destruir a cada uno de sus corbatas de moño horrible. Comprende, Hobbit?" _she yelled.

Blaine winced and pulled the phone away from his ear a couple inches.

"Okay," he assured her. "I'm going now."

_"Prisa de una puta vez!" _she yelled before hanging up abruptly.

Blaine turned to see Kurt staring at him.

"What did she want?" he asked. They were pretty much used to these phone calls by now.

"I didn't really understand anything beyond 'Nachos' and 'Hobbit,'" Blaine admitted. "But I think that's enough."

"It's your turn," Kurt pointed out. This was true; Kurt had been the one to drive to KFC in the middle of the night the week before to get Santana fried chicken.

"Fine," Blaine relented. "Are all women this scary when they're pregnant?"

"Blaine, women can be pretty damn scary when they want to be. Santana's a lot louder than most of them, but still. That's why we're lucky we're gay. Now go get Santana her Taco Bell," Kurt commanded before rolling over and going back to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>The mind churns!<em>

_The heart yearns!_

_The tears dry, without you_

_Life goes on, but I'm gone_

_Cause I die, without you_

...

"It's stupid."

"No. Blaine, this is the _last _thing that I would call stupid. I would be worried if you weren't upset," Kurt said, rubbing Blaine's back as he cried into Kurt's shoulder. They had just arrived home and they were still in their suits, but Kurt wasn't the least bit worried about the state of his jacket right now.

"I just miss him," Blaine admitted between sobs. "I miss him, which is stupid because I never really saw him all that much."

Kurt was silent, allowing Blaine to speak.

"I never needed him and now I feel like I need him _so _much. There were all these things that we never talked about or never did that we should have, and now it's too late," he said. "I was so stupid. I didn't even try."

"It's not your fault," Kurt said quietly into Blaine's ear. "You didn't know that this was going to happen."

"I knew that it could!" Blaine said angrily, still crying. "I knew that it would happen one day, but I didn't even bother to try and see him more or talk to him more and now that he's gone I just need him to be here."

Kurt was silent. He understood what Blaine was saying. He and his father had kept up an okay relationship after his and Kurt's wedding, but they never really made it to the kind of closeness that Kurt had with Burt.

"But he's not. You know that one of the things that upset him about us was that he might not get grandchildren? And he never met her. He'll never get to meet her. A couple more months and he would, and he'd at least be proud of me for that," Blaine cried.

"I know," Kurt murmured.

"He'll never know how much I loved him, because I never _told _him. I never told him _anything _that I should have."

"He knew how much you love him," Kurt said firmly. "Because you know how much he loved you, don't you? You know that he _was _proud of you. You know how important you were to him, even if you didn't see him all the time. And he knew, too."

Blaine just clutched at Kurt harder.

* * *

><p><em>When you're worn out and tired<em>

_When your heart has expired_

_Oh, lover, I'll cover you_

...

The bed sank down slightly as Kurt gingerly climbed back into it.

Blaine stirred slightly.

"What's going on?" he mumbled.

"Shh. I just got Natalie to go to sleep," Kurt explained, scooting over to sleep next to Blaine.

"Okay," Blaine said sleepily, closing his eyes again.

Then they opened as a shrill cry pierced the silence. Kurt groaned and sat up.

"No," Blaine said, yawning and sitting up too. "You've been up all night; you're exhausted."

Kurt looked like he wanted to protest.

"Go to sleep. I've got it covered," Blaine said, kissing Kurt on the forehead and gently pushing him back to lay down again.

"Okay," Kurt murmured gratefully, already half asleep.

* * *

><p><em>When single frames from one magic night,<em>

_Forever flicker in close up on the 3-D Imax of my mind._

...

"I'm about to say something really, really corny. Just a warning," Blaine said as they drove away.

"Go ahead," Kurt said. "I'm used to it by now."

Blaine laughed.

"Fine," he said. "This feels weird. I swear she was only born, like, last week."

"That is corny," Kurt agreed. "But yeah, I know what you mean."

And he did. Even after years of raising Natalie, memories of that one night remained completely clear in his head.

The phone call from Brittany in the middle of the night, because Santana apparently could never do anything requiring immediate attention during the daytime.

Rushing to the hospital, only to sit for ten hours with a very cranky pregnant woman, whose mood steadily worsened as she progressed further in the process of being ready to give birth.

Watching her scream at them in Spanish as she did give birth.

That incredible moment when they had seen their daughter for the first time, and Santana had relaxed and they had all been so ridiculously happy.

Sure, the night had involved a lot of viewing of female genitals (_Santana's _genitals, which was even worse), but it had been wonderful and perfect and magical. It felt like it really had happened just yesterday, but that they had known her forever.

Now she really was growing up—starting her first day of preschool, beginning to read, and (to Kurt's dismay) repeating things that she heard from her Auntie Tana.

Still, the image of baby Natalie, covered in blood and screaming her head off but still looking so, so beautiful, remained in the forefront of Kurt's mind.

* * *

><p><em>I'd be happy to die for a taste of what Angel had: <em>

_Someone to live for-unafraid to say "I love you"_

...

Blaine came home to find Natalie, sitting in the living room and eating chocolate ice cream ferociously.

"Um. Natalie?" he said.

"Yes?" she growled, not looking away from the carton she was eating from.

"Is something wrong?" Blaine asked.

She turned to look at him.

"I hate you _guys_!" she exclaimed. "Well, not you and dad. But _guys_. They suck."

And she took another bite of ice cream.

"Oh," Blaine said. "Do you… want to talk about it?"

That was when the front door opened again, and Kurt came in.

"Hey, did you get the stuff for dinner?" he asked Blaine distractedly, looking down at his phone. Then he looked up and noticed his daughter's miserable face.

"Oh, no," he said, and quickly sat down beside Natalie. "Honey, did a boy do something stupid?"

Natalie nodded unhappily.

"They do that," he said sympathetically. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

She nodded again.

"Blaine, come sit," Kurt commanded, pointing at the seat on Natalie's other side.

"What happened?" Blaine asked a little awkwardly. He'd never really had extremely close female friends to cry about boys with, so he had no idea what he was supposed to do here.

"Boys are idiots. They're idiotic jerks," Natalie whined.

"I know," Kurt said, nodding wisely.

"There's this guy, Jack. He's in my English class," she began. "And I really, really liked him…"

She started to cry. Kurt rubbed her back sympathetically.

"And I thought he liked me too, because he was always flirting with me and he eats lunch with me every day," she explained, distressed. "And then he asked me to go to Brooke Hounson's party last night."

Kurt and Blaine nodded. They had known that Natalie had gone to a party the night before, and had been assured that Brooke Hounson was an extremely boring person and there definitely wouldn't be any alcohol.

Natalie bit her lip, realizing that she was approaching territory that might not be particularly parent-appropriate.

"And we were all hanging out, and then Alicia said we should play spin-the-bottle, just because she likes Joey and he was there!" she said angrily. "So we were playing, right, and then stupid Brooke Hounson spun it and it landed on Jack."

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby," Kurt said. "Did he kiss her?"

He looked over to Blaine, who looked extremely disconcerted.

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Blaine, they're in high school; they're going to kiss each other," Kurt said rolling his eyes.

Natalie nodded.

"He kissed her, and it really _sucked_, but it was spin-the-bottle, and it's a stupid game and it doesn't mean anything," she said. "But then today he told me that now he really likes _her _and he's going to date _her _just because he kissed her and it wasn't horrible! Who _does _that?"

Kurt looked automatically at Blaine, who was wincing guiltily.

"I just want somebody to actually like me back! You guys met in high school and now you're married. Why can't that happen to me?" Natalie asked, eating another bite of ice cream.

Kurt looked at Blaine with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," Blaine began tentatively. "You know…"

"Oh, for… Your papa kissed Rachel when we were teenagers," Kurt finally said, ignoring Blaine's affronted look.

"What?" Natalie asked in shock. "When you two were together?"

"No," Blaine said defensively, still looking at Kurt with a wounded expression. "And in my defense, I was dr—confused."

"He also s—"

"The point is," Blaine interrupted loudly. "That we didn't just meet and fall in love immediately, and it wasn't easy."

Natalie sniffed.

"So what? Jack's still a jerk," she said stubbornly.

"I know, sweetie. I'm sorry," Kurt says. "But it'll be okay, and one day you will fall in love with somebody. It doesn't have to happen now, just because it did for us."

"Okay," Natalie said quietly. Then, after a moment of silence, she asked, "Did you really kiss Rachel when you were drunk?"

Blaine groaned.

"Your dad kissed Aunt Brittany," he said defensively. Kurt gasped, looking betrayed.

Natalie's eyes widened.

"Geez," she said. "What was _up _with you guys in high school?"

"You have no idea," Kurt sighed.

* * *

><p><em>You're not alone<em>

_I'm not alone_

_I'm not alone_

...

Blaine, after searching for Kurt everywhere else in the house, finally found him in their bathroom. He was sitting in front of the mirror, staring intently at himself.

"Kurt?" Blaine said.

Kurt didn't turn away from the mirror.

"What are you doing?" Blaine tried again. Kurt sighed and finally turned to face him.

"Blaine," he whined. "I'm _old_."

Blaine burst out laughing.

"Honey, you're not old," he said soothingly, after immediately sobering in response to Kurt's glare.

"I _am_," Kurt protested. "Blaine, I'm _forty-eight _years old and my daughter is in college. I'm old."

"Sweetie, forty-eight isn't old. Besides, I'm just as old as you, aren't I?" Blaine argued.

"You're almost as old as me," Kurt said unhappily. "I'm older than you."

"By a year," Blaine retorted, smiling. "Besides, you don't look forty-eight. All those hours you've spent moisturizing since high school really paid off. I look way older than you do."

Kurt shrugged.

"I did tell you to moisturize and wear sunscreen. It's not my fault," he said. "Anyway, I'm getting old. If Natalie gets married and has kids, I'm going to be a grandparent. A _grandparent_, Blaine."

"Kurt," Blaine said. "We're all getting old. It was pretty inevitable. All of our friends are old too, even though you look way younger than the rest of us. You're not alone here."

Kurt sighed.

"I suppose it is all relative," he mused. "And I do look younger than the rest of you. It's their karma for making fun of my skin routine. But yes, I guess I'm not alone."

Blaine grinned.

"You know what we're not too old to do?" he asked mischievously.

"You want me to make brownies and watch kid's movies with you, don't you," Kurt sighed, unable to help smiling. "Because I think we _are _too old for that."

"I do," Blaine confirmed. "Don't be such a killjoy and make me some brownies. Please?"

"Fine," Kurt relented. "But you're not allowed to eat the batter."

Then he turned and walked out of the room, ignoring Blaine's protests of "But Kurt, that's the best part!"

* * *

><p><em>I Should Tell You<em>

_I Love You_

...

"Just tilt your head down a little… Okay. There," Kurt approved, holding his daughter's head still. "Don't move, I have to get more pins."

"Okay," Natalie replied as well as she could without moving.

"I'm so glad you got your papa's hair," Kurt said fondly as he pinned another curl into place. "It's so beautiful, especially long, on you. He always kept it too short."

Natalie smiled, still looking down.

"I think it's done," Kurt proclaimed. "Look."

She looked at herself in the mirror for just a moment before meeting her father's eyes in the reflection.

"Thank you," she said softly. "It's amazing."

"_You're _amazing," Kurt corrected. "You're beautiful. I'm so proud of you."

Natalie nodded silently.

"We're not allowed to cry until you're actually out there, though," he continued firmly, blinking quickly to hold back his own tears.

Natalie nodded again.

"All right," Kurt said, oddly nervously. "We need to go out now."

"Okay," Natalie agreed shakily. "Yeah."

She stood carefully and took her father's outstretched hand, stepping around the chair and trying not to catch her dress on anything.

"Natalie," Kurt said softly as they reached the door.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking up at him with wide, anxious eyes.

"Before we go, I should tell you," he said. "I love you."

* * *

><p><em>And I find I can't hide from<em>

_Your eyes _

_The ones that took me by surprise _

_The night you came into my life_

...

Kurt pressed closer to the glass, trying to get a better look. Blaine stood beside him, holding his hand and staring as well.

"She's perfect," was all he was able to choke out.

"She is," Kurt agreed. "She's beautiful."

Blaine tried and failed to discreetly wipe his eyes.

"She has your eyes, too," Kurt suddenly pointed out. "See?"

Blaine looked closer to see that his granddaughter did indeed have the same amber eyes that his daughter had gotten from him, that they had seen for the first time that night so many years ago when she first come into their life.

* * *

><p><em>Forget regret or <em>

_Life is yours to miss_

_No other road_

_No other way_

_No day but today_

...

Blaine eased himself into bed beside Kurt, reaching out and pulling him closer.

"Come here," he said softly. Kurt complied, and they lay together, just holding each other, for a while.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked sleepily.

"Yeah?" Blaine whispered in response.

"Do you regret anything?" Kurt asked cautiously. "With us?"

"No," Blaine said after a minute. "I don't."

"Really?" Kurt asked in surprise.

"I don't," Blaine repeated. "Because everything that's happened to us brought us here. This is pretty much perfect, to me. Right now, with you, is what matters. Don't you think so?"

"'No regrets, just love'?" Kurt quoted wryly.

"Right," Blaine nodded. "No regrets."

Then he pulled Kurt closer and they drifted off to sleep together.

* * *

><p><strong>So guess who has two thumbs and didn't really think about the fact that there are 27 songs on the Rent soundtrack until she was halfway through this story? This girl!<strong>

**Yes, I really copped out on some of these by taking single lines and not writing to the entire song. You try writing a Klaine scene to the other parts of Over the Moon, then come yell at me.**

**I may have left out a lot of details in some of the stories, but I did plan everything, even if I didn't put it in. I promise, I spent forever figuring out Kurt and Blaine's wedding outfits, rings, flowers, etc. **

**I'm sorry if my Spanish translations weren't that good... Google Translate can only get you so far.**

**(Super long AN is super long... sorry, but...) Am I the only one who writes stories set far into the future and just pretends that the world did not develop at all technologically, etc. after 2015?**

**I'm addicted to anonymous feedback given by strangers via the internet. Be an enabler?**


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